The Last Ship Season 5
by queenpearl
Summary: So after a two-year hiatus I've decided to continue posting. Season 4 will be left out of the picture for now although I might do a few drabbles on it. Season 3 episodes are in the works but I don't know if I will be doing full episodes or just drabbles on parts of it as doing full ones drains me. In any case, enjoy the renewal of the Last Ship!
1. Casus Bell

He was tired of war. The harshness of it all. The weight that always seemed to fall upon his shoulders. Duty, they called it. Doing his duty. Was he doing his duty when he let Quincy die? Was he doing his duty when he watched Greece fall? Or when China became the place from which the lessons of the past were forgotten, and genocide rained supreme? Duty, all of it. He'd saved the world twice now and still there was no end in sight. The battle for peace was a never ending one for they would never learn that it cannot come from the point of a sword. He was beginning to wonder if Vellek was right after all. To find peace one must never become angry.

He stared at the smoke filling the horizon. That was all he could do, stare. There was little else he could do. This far from shore it was silent and he was thankful for that. As much as he longed to be in the thick of the fight, to do something! He could not hear the screaming. That was always the worst, the screams. He felt many things in that moment. Fear, yes. Anger, most certainly. Those were his friends! Michener, Michael, Oliver, and they were dying! For the first time in three years he was not alone. He had a fleet beside him! He felt that he could finally have things his own way. He could teach others to carry the flag, then retire. And here it was again, someone messing up his plans! Messing with his life! He was sick of it! How many more times did he have to defend his home? Protect that which had lied to him, cheated him, tried to kill him on several occasions. Why did he continue to serve?! _"Where else can I go?"_ He thought.

He wanted his peace, and yet he was only truly happy in the fight. He was asked once if he missed the war. He didn't want to admit it, but in his heart he knew the answer. He was a warrior. The outcome didn't matter to him as much as the battle itself. He knew he would find victory. He did his best work alone. Because that is all he ever would be. He was destined to face every opponent without the benefit of a fleet, his entire nation's fate resting on his shoulders. He was The Last Ship standing and he would do his duty.


	2. Tropic of Cancer

He knew her voice. He could feel her presence with every beat of his heart. The pounding in his head was her knocking, trying to get in. As was her right. For she was flagship and he, her soldier. Her trusted deputy. She was calling him to her side, and he must obey. Only, he didn't. Because this voice was not the one he had known. It was different, _she_ was different. The plague, the famine had changed her. She was once kind and gentle, filled with the wisdom of a ship her age and of her time. Now she was bitter and harsh, her wisdom replaced by a foul poison. The delusions of Tavo had given rise to a madness within that had convinced her that to turn against her own was the only way she could survive. He felt pity for her, despite the fact that his side was smarting from the blow he'd just received off her guns. She had witnessed everything taken from her. Her fleet perishing at her side, people dying in the streets just out of her reach to help. The agony of survival. Tavo's appearance must have seemed like a sign of the Ancients. A calling that she could respond to.

None of that changed the current situation. Nor Nathan James' fix for it. He pushed back against the call, resisting her. A part of him shuddered in horror as he fired back, the rest of him felt satisfaction as his missiles made their mark. She turned away, her song still as alluring and powerful as ever. It never went away completely, fading to the background as she sailed over the horizon.

It was only then that Nathan allowed himself to reflect on what had just occurred. This was far worse than anything he'd ever encountered before. He'd dealt with plague, with famine, he'd seen allies become enemies and betrayal from within his own ranks. But he'd always found a way to deal with these things, to push on. Because he believed, not just in his nation but in his flagship. He did what he did because he believed it was what she would have done. He didn't have that belief anymore. And the fact alone was enough to shake him to his core.

He stared at the now empty horizon, where she had once been. "Missouri," He whispered, his voice mirroring his inner agony. "What have you done?"


End file.
